Meter help

[wsiegel]

Can you determine the amperage of the meter by the numbers on it??

[gbeaumont]

Hi William,

The CL200 marking denotes it rated for upto 200 Continuous Load amps

BTW the TA30 denotes its test/calibration amperage as in Test Amps, this is the norm for 200amp meters, most 100amp or lowermeters tend to have a test amperage if 15

Regards

Gerry

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Gerry is 100% correct......as that is the nature of that meter unit itself.....funny story however from the other day on a service change we did....

I have seen them place 200CL's in 100A meter cans....had one just 2 days ago as stated above..... The meter should be the poorest used item.....be more induced by the SE conductors, panel rating, OCPD size and wire if possible coming out of the mast head for your real determination.

[gbeaumont]

Originally Posted by pabernathy

Gerry is 100% correct......as that is the nature of that meter unit itself.....funny story however from the other day on a service change we did....

I have seen them place 200CL's in 100A meter cans....had one just 2 days ago as stated above..... The meter should be the poorest used item.....be more induced by the SE conductors, panel rating, OCPD size and wire if possible coming out of the mast head for your real determination.

Paul, are you sure that you are allowed to say that I think we should await Spark's comments

Regards

Gerry

[Paul W. Abernathy]

lololol.........Classic Mate.........Beers on ME soon....

[wsiegel]

Thanks for your input. I was always under the impression that a 200 amp meter can was larger than this.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Usually are a bit larger.....so use the meter can ONLY as a lead into the other time to make that final choice....sad thing about POCO is you use what they give you sometimes....they also run without rules many times as well.

[Greg Fretwell]

If the utility sets the meter base they can use whatever can they have on the truck. Electricians have to use one with proper wire bending space. Of course the homeowner/handyman uses whatever is there when they bootleg in the heavy up. The wire that gets ignored is the SE from the end of the drop to the meter. That is where I would start sniffing for "rats". Next would be the SE into the service disconnect. If they can trick the utility into replacing the seal wioth no questions they might replace that.

[brian winkle]

We have to supply the meter base here. I can never tell what the rating is on the older ones, they always have 4/0AL feeding them from the POCO when they are UG, but it's hard to tell what the load rating is, it never is printed in there. And the load side lugs are just as big as the line side ones. Even when the home was originally built with a 100 amp service and #2 or #4 feeders from the meter, there is always 200 amp feeders from the POCO.

[Speedy Petey]

The meter itself is NEVER a direct indication of service size.
My POCO uses 200CL meters almost exclusively. Regardless of service size.
The meter pan, service entrance conductors and main disconnect are the keys to service size.

That looks like an old 100a service.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Ahhh......view my online video regarding sizing a service......the Meter Enclosure is helpful in putting the puzzle together but is the "THROW OUT" factor when sizing a service....

Check out my video on www.theelectricalguru.com and the video page.